Detroit's wealth of architectural talent!

[southofbloor]

Fantastic! There are a few buildings downtown that I suspect are 40's 50's facade overhauls of ornate buildings. In some cases it has to do with changing design tastes and in other cases I wonder whether the facade's ornateness wasn't performing well.

I'm reading a lot these days about ca 1910 buildings with Vacuum cleaning systems - am working at trying to figure out what exactly that entailed at the time.

[p69rrh51]

Fantastic! There are a few buildings downtown that I suspect are 40's 50's facade overhauls of ornate buildings. In some cases it has to do with changing design tastes and in other cases I wonder whether the facade's ornateness wasn't performing well.

I'm reading a lot these days about ca 1910 buildings with Vacuum cleaning systems - am working at trying to figure out what exactly that entailed at the time.

My father used to tell a story about his visits to GM styling. He would always marvel at the beautiful automobiles on the drawing boards. One time he asked one the stylists why most of the designs never made it into production. The answer was we can't help the bad taste of the american public. I think that goes for many of the buildings remuddled in the area. Your Ford Service building at Woodward and East Grand Boulevard is another that comes to mind.

[p69rrh51]

A builder who did work in Indian Village and Grosse Pointe-Davock Building Company.



2200 Iroquois built in 1916 Indian Village Historic District Detroit, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A Davock built home in Grosse Pointe.



304 University Place built in 1916 City of Grosse Pointe, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A J. H. Gustav Steffens design.



1259 Kensington built in 1925 Grosse Pointe Park, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A Muehlman & Farrar design.



1119 Kensington built in 1930 Grosse Pointe Park, MI.

[mccarch]

Here's a photo of the United Savings Bank facade - quite the tasty but expected excellence by AK, though I think he rather schmooshed the joint between the bank's formal three-bays and the single-bay building entrance to the right.

If you look at the contemporary photo posted, can you see windows - hopefully original - behind the vertical stainless steel grills at the sides? Can the entire original facade still be there behind the red marble?

[p69rrh51]

Here's a photo of the United Savings Bank facade - quite the tasty but expected excellence by AK, though I think he rather schmooshed the joint between the bank's formal three-bays and the single-bay building entrance to the right.

If you look at the contemporary photo posted, can you see windows - hopefully original - behind the vertical stainless steel grills at the sides? Can the entire original facade still be there behind the red marble?

Thx for the image, nice to see what the building should look like. What architectural journal was the image published? From what I could see when I took the image the facade above the first level arches is pretty much there, unfortunately the terrific first level facade is long gone.
The facade itself is very elegant and not overly ornate what were they thinking when all the changes were made!!

[southofbloor]

Schmooshed, from the latin root Schmooshimus, or "to prematurely finalize incomplete architectural drawings to appease an impatient client".

[southofbloor]

Still can't post pics - attaching a link I found today.

Linked is the Thomas Chick house on Riverside Drive in Windsor, Ca 1920 by James Carlisle Pennington. My mother took me through this at the start of demolition in the early 1970's. I have a vague recollection of it being very close to the water and being able to see through the house through the large central window [[may have had to do with the demolition). Attachments are a watercolour owned by a cousin and a snapshot of the house just before demolition. House sat roughly at Strabane and Riverside Dr, directly south of the James Scott memorial fountain on Belle Isle.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof...n/photostream/

Think the orange car might be a slightly blurred '67 Toronado but not sure on that...

[p69rrh51]

Still can't post pics - attaching a link I found today.

Linked is the Thomas Chick house on Riverside Drive in Windsor, Ca 1920 by James Carlisle Pennington. My mother took me through this at the start of demolition in the early 1970's. I have a vague recollection of it being very close to the water and being able to see through the house through the large central window [[may have had to do with the demolition). Attachments are a watercolour owned by a cousin and a snapshot of the house just before demolition. House sat roughly at Strabane and Riverside Dr, directly south of the James Scott memorial fountain on Belle Isle.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof...n/photostream/

Think the orange car might be a slightly blurred '67 Toronado but not sure on that...

South are you using Internet Explorer? I found Mozilla Firefox is better for posting images on here.

[p69rrh51]

A Crombie & Stanton design with updated history on the home from an issue of The Moorings the publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.




355 Lakeland built in 1927 City of Grosse Pointe, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A Robert O. Derrick design with an updated history from an issue of The Moorings the publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



15420 Windmill Pointe Drive built in 1927 Grosse Pointe Park, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A design by Alpheus W. Chittenden including updated history of the home from an issue of The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



15520 Windmill Pointe Drive built in 1904 Grosse Pointe Park, MI.

[southofbloor]

This is one of the truly amazing things about Detroit - that buildings of this size and scale were moved some distances. There is a paper here on a history of buildings moved - 1075 Burns, Livingston House [[not quite successful), Degarmo Jones, some other houses on Fort that I would have to look up... Degarmo Jones was moved in 1882. Not sure how that would happen.

Firefox no work for upload. Ah well.

[p69rrh51]

This is one of the truly amazing things about Detroit - that buildings of this size and scale were moved some distances. There is a paper here on a history of buildings moved - 1075 Burns, Livingston House [[not quite successful), Degarmo Jones, some other houses on Fort that I would have to look up... Degarmo Jones was moved in 1882. Not sure how that would happen.

Firefox no work for upload. Ah well.

That sucks that Firefox did not work! Thx for the images though South! Could you send the Van Leyen & Shilling image as well as the Roland Gies image too please?

[p69rrh51]

A Richard Marr design with an updated short history of the terrace from an issue of The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



English Terrace East Jefferson between Rivard and Roosevelt Place built from 1926-1929 City of Grosse Pointe, MI.

[p69rrh51]

An interesting history of 59 Lake Shore Road from an issue of The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.

59 Lakeshore built in 1892 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI.

[p69rrh51]

A design by Eliel and Eero Saarinen with a short history from The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



203 Cloverly built 1937 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI.

[renf]

Does anyone know the name of the architect who designed the home on
Dwight Street that is now the Manoogian mansion? Thank you.

[p69rrh51]

The name remains unknown as far as I know. Enclosed is the final report for Berry Historic District. Unfortunately there is not much information on the Manoogian Mansion.

[Patrick]

The name remains unknown as far as I know. Enclosed is the final report for Berry Historic District. Unfortunately there is not much information on the Manoogian Mansion.

I recall the architect's name was something Standish, but that was in an old write-up from a Berry sub piece from the 70s. I recall the name sounding sort of "Pilgrimish" if you will.

[Neilr]

A Richard Marr design with an updated short history of the terrace from an issue of The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



English Terrace East Jefferson between Rivard and Roosevelt Place built from 1926-1929 City of Grosse Pointe, MI.

I think that this is one of the finest sets of townhousess in metro Detroit. I particularly like the layouts of units 6, 10, and 11.


These townhouses certainly have stood the test of time with both Richard Marr's original design and the level of maintenance over the past 80+ years.

[ATTACH]Marr #1[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]Marr #2[/ATTACH]

[p69rrh51]

I think that this is one of the finest sets of townhousess in metro Detroit. I particularly like the layouts of units 6, 10, and 11.


These townhouses certainly have stood the test of time with both Richard Marr's original design and the level of maintenance over the past 80+ years.

[ATTACH]Marr #1[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]Marr #2[/ATTACH]

Thx Neilr very cool drawings. Its been awhile nice to hear from you! There are very well designed interiors in the terrace. Also I lost my virginity in unit #5.

[p69rrh51]

A design by Alden B. Dow including a short history from The Moorings a publication of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.



741 Middlesex built in 1939 Grosse Pointe Park, MI.